Traditional Literature- SCHOOLYARD RHYMES

Sierra, Judy. Knopf. 2005. SCHOOLYARD RHYMES. Ill. by Melissa Sweet. New York: Random House.
ISBN 0375825169

Schoolyard Rhymes is a collection of 50 jump rope, hand-clapping, and ball bouncing fun and silly chants and rhymes. The collection contains many familiar songs and chants such as Miss Mary Mack, “Cinderella”, and "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" that brings a smile or giggle. I was surprised to find additional verses that I had not heard, such as “But she can smoke, smoke, smoke Her daddy’s pipe, pipe, pipe.", in Miss Mary Mack. Melissa Sweet's illustrations made reading this book even more enjoyable. The watercolor and pen illustrations gave great detail to the characters.
She captures the fun and silliness of the rhymes. Many pages had verses written very small as it formed the jump rope,went around the picture frames and tree trunks. I found myself intrigued by the tiny print and how is was apart of the illustration. As much as I enjoyed reading the schoolyard rhymes , I thought about what would happen if the school children began chanting some the lines such as “Teacher, teacher don’t be so dumb,” and “Teacher, teacher, don’t be so mean,” (pg. 17) “Liar, liar pants on fire”,(pg.20) would it bring children running to tattle. Children need a chance to hear and say funny, silly things and know that is okay in the right circumstances.

Reviews:
Horn Book (September/October, 2005) –“Kids will enjoy this celebration of naughtiness and childhood fun.
Horn Book starred (Spring 2006) - Sweet goes for a comic style with her watercolor and pencil art.”
School Library Journal (October 1, 2005)-“This is a definite winner, as it will be enormously popular with children.-Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.”
I really enjoyed re-visiting schoolyard rhymes. I realized that the children are not saying silly chants on the playground. I am going to introduce my class to some of the jump rope chants during exercise time. Along with learning “Cinderella dressed in yella” they will have to learn to jump rope. This will be a fun way to continue the traditional literature unit to include rhymes, chants and songs. This is another way to connect with the students. First graders love when their teacher can be silly and hopefully learn that some words are ok in a rhyme or chant. This is what traditional literature is all about sharing from one generation to another in hopes that one day the children will remember the day they learned about “Cinderella”,or “Coca-Cola went to town”, the day the lemon and pickle knocked on the door, and pass it down to another generation.